UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 17, 2018. Sinara Group and Siemens AG’s joint venture Ural Locomotives made 95 freight locos and 35 Lastochka high-speed, five-car electric trains, Sinara Group’s PR Center reports. ‘Thirty Lastochka trains were sent to Moscow Central Ring. Four more Standard Class trains were made additionally for North-Western Commuter Travel Company. These four Lastochka items are unique in that the interior of the railcars is specifically adjusted for long-distance travelers’ maximum comfort; plus, the entrances are fitted with elongated steps to allow passengers get on the

UrBC, Chelyabinsk, January 17, 2018. A group of Chelyabinsk Oblast-based businessmen and women are going to Kazakhstan on January 30-February 2, 2018. Their trip is coordinated by the South Urals Chamber of Commerce & Industry. According to the Chamber’s press service, the business mission’s primary goal is to visit Khorgos, the International Cross-Border Cooperation Center. Khorgos is located within 360 km of Almaty, in Almaty Oblast’s Panfilovskiy District, right on the Kazakh-Chinese border. Additionally, talks with the Chinese residents of the Center will be held during the delegates’

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 16, 2018. Eleven workers of ChTPZ Group’s Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant (PNTZ) got their Bachelor’s degrees at Ural Federal University’s Chair for Pipe Making Technologies & Equipment; the chair operates right on the plant’s premises, the company press service reports. This is the first class to get their degrees in Metallurgy and Power Engineering & Equipment. One of the students graduated with honors, and over 60% of graduates had a GPA of ‘Good’ or better. ‘I congratulate our first graduates on the completion of their studies. The company did its best to

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 16, 2018. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development’s Customer Support Center was one of Russia’s first call centers to get ISO 18295 certified; the certificate is issued by the International Contact Center Certification Institute (ICCCI). A certificate issued by an international body is an acknowledgement of the call center’s great quality service; the certificate is currently recognized in over 160 different countries. The UBRD applied for a certification procedure in 2015. Following a special audit, more than seventy different quality improvement steps

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, January 16, 2018. Metallurg Charity Foundation (mainly supported by Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works/MMK) coordinated a medical committee meeting to look into its Keep Healthy Program’s performance in 2017, MMK Information, PR & Advertising Department reports. ‘We allocated money for hi-tech surgeries that 91 old-age patients needed. 131 retirees got their crystalline lens replacement therapy funded by the company. One person was referred to the renowned Eye Microsurgery Clinic in Yekaterinburg. 335 seniors got reimbursed on their teeth replacement expenses. Also,

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, January 16, 2018. Quite a few employees of Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) joined the blood donation event around New Year’s Eve, MMK Information, PR & Advertising Department reports. The representatives of the All-Russian People’s Front and Magnitogorsk Young Metallurgists’ Union spent their last working day of the year at a blood donation station and invited all other locals to do the same. ‘I’ve been donating blood on a regular basis now and see this as a good deed. Donating blood could be even more crucial than usual around a New Year break,’ says gas

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 16, 2018. Developers in Yekaterinburg’s Akademicheskiy District are offering their customers ready-to-move-in studio apartments and one-bedroom ones in Preobrazhensky Quarter (prices start from RUR 65,000 per m2), RSG-Akademicheskoye’s press service reports. Reduced prices hold from January 15 to January 31, 2018. ‘Preobrazhensky Quarter is definitely this season’s favorite. These Comfort apartments in the new part of the district are the best choice for demanding customers who care for extensive infrastructure, security, and a good neighborhood as well as for

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 15, 2018. Beloyarskaya Nuclear Power Station produced 10,201.87 million kilowatt-hours of electric power in 2017, which was its peak output throughout the station’s entire history, Beloyarskaya’s press service reports. The station’s Power Generating Unit 3 with BN 600 Reactor produced 4,633.77 million kilowatt-hours and its Power Generating Unit 4 with BN 800 Reactor produced 5,568.1 million kilowatt-hours. ‘This was possible due to our new BN 800 Reactor’s power generating unit reaching its projected capacity; the unit got commissioned for use on a commercial

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 15, 2018. BankInformServis came up with its usual annual rating of Sverdlovsk Oblast’s most proactive and popular banks. SKB-Bank was declared The Best Bank, as its products were among the most popular and best-selling ones last year, the bank’s press service reports. Besides, it is reported the bank proved a very active participant of BankInformServis’s projects. This is actually the second time SKB-Bank comes first in the website’s rating. SKB-Bank was also among the top three Best Deposit Market Players and New Loan Formula Banks. Throughout the year, the bank

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 15, 2018. ChTPZ Group’s Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant (PNTZ) had its environmental monitoring license upgraded by Rosgidromet (the federal environmental monitoring service) to include more parameters, the Group’s press service reports. The company is now in control of monitoring the quality of surface water in the Chusovaya River and the Bolshaya Shaytanka River. The lifetime license to control the quality of local air was granted the plant in 2015. To get the license upgrade, PNTZ had to be audited by Rosgidromet; the agency’s experts commented on the great quality

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 15, 2018. Ural Airlines are going to have a weekend sale on January 12-15, 2018, the air carrier’s press service reports. ‘You can use the first post-New Year break weekend to book tickets at a discount using Ural Airlines’ mobile services. On January 12-15, reduced-price tickets are available through Ural Airlines mobile app, and on January 13-14 they are also available on the company website www.uralairlines.com,’ the press service says. Reduced-price tickets are offered for the following flights: Moscow-Irkutsk/Irkutsk-Moscow (prices start from RUR 10,000);

UrBC, Moscow, January 15, 2018. The Russian Government is considering adopting a bill to control the price of airplane tickets for the time of the World Football Championship that Russia is to host this year, TASS refers to Russia’s Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov as saying. ‘The Government is working on a decree similar to that which was adopted for the Sochi Olympics, when there was a price limit (slightly higher than the average price) on airplane tickets,’ the minister said. He added the government was also considering allowing a number of foreign air carriers to operate domestic flights

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 12, 2018. EVRAZ Holding’s Nizhniy Tagil Integrated Metallurgical Works (NTMK) directed RUR 2m to new interactive robotics appliances for Nizhniy Tagil’s kindergartens. EVRAZ Holding Ural’s Corporate Relations Center reports. ‘135 equipment sets got distributed among the thirty-four kindergartens EVRAZ NTMK supports. The equipment is meant to help with the plant’s early-on job counseling program (A Schoolchild Today, A Metallurgist Tomorrow) and ignite the young children’s interest in information technologies and engineering jobs,’ the Center says. The interactive

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 12, 2018. Ural Airlines introduced their new Rostov-on-Don-Tel Aviv flight this January; the flight will be operated every Wednesday, the air carrier’s press service reports. Starting from March 28, 2018, you can fly to Tel Aviv for as little as $210 (one way) and $445 (round trip, all fees included). Tickets are already on offer. ‘When planning your trip to the picturesque Tel Aviv, doing a bit of sightseeing is a must. The old city of Jaffa with its curiosity shops, Rothschild Boulevard with its shady alleys, Azrieli Center, the ancient city of Jerusalem, the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 12, 2018. The company’s former Deputy DG for Service Oleg Zaitsev was recently appointed Director-General of Sinara Group’s Sinara Transport Machine’s STM-Servis. The decision was taken by the company BOD, Sinara Group’s press service reports. Alexander Izmailov, who ran the company since April 2011, will go on to work as STM-Servis’s Deputy DG for Finance & Economic Issues; he will also be in charge of business process automatization at loco depots and service centers. Oleg Zaitsev was born in 1970. He graduated from Saint Petersburg State Railway University

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, January 12, 2018. A new, up-to-date training simulator was recently launched at Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK), the company’s Information, PR & Advertising Department reports. MMK Director-General Pavel Shilyayev says the simulator is meant to enhance production safety. ‘However intelligent and disciplined a worker may be, due to certain psychological factors they might underestimate the actual risks related to their everyday performance. Getting used to a routine and, consequently, feeling relaxed about safety rules are the key factors behind most

UrBC, Moscow, January 12, 2018. The Deposit Insurance Agency had to lay off some 12,000 banking sector employees last year as banks’ licenses got annulled and liquidation proceedings were in progress; a year earlier, the figure was 13,500 people, RIA Novosti refers to the agency as stating. The Bank of Russia slowed down the clear-up process last year, as only fifty banks left the market in 2017 against nearly a hundred banks in 2016. The need to remove dubious lending institutions from the market will still be relevant for a while, most likely for two years or so, the Bank of Russia’s Head

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 11, 2018. SKB-Bank collected some RUR 24m for charity in last year’s Everyday Charity, an event the bank coordinated in order to support 26 children, the bank’s press service reports. Last year proved the most successful one in the history of Everyday Charity Program, with donations at RUR 17,147,006. SKB-Bank has been involved in charity programs for many years now, helping the foundations which coordinate socially important projects in the healthcare, education, culture, and sports sectors and which also support specific children with health issues. ‘It is easy

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, January 11, 2018. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) had its environmental management system certified successfully for compliance with the latest version of the ISO 14001 standard, MMK’s Information & PR Department reports. ‘Based on their checks, auditors from the Germany-based international certification body TÜV NORD CERT confirmed that the plant’s environmental management system fully complied with the said standard’s requirements and did help reduce the plant’s environmental impact,’ the Department says. 13 divisions, including the plant’s ore processing

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 11, 2018. MegaFon Ural’s customers used more than 300,000 Gb of traffic to send season’s greetings through messengers and social networks in December and January, which exceeded the figures for last season by 2.5 times and equals to roughly 60 million e-cards, the telecommunications provider’s press service reports. MegaFon Ural’s users mostly made calls on Viber, sent texts on WhatsApp, and used their 4G connection. ‘The fourth-generation network was definitely the preferred online greetings channel. The amount of 4G traffic within our network rose by as much as